Category Archives: Independent Practice

This is material either specifically designed for or appropriate to use for what is more commonly known as “homework.”

Common Errors in English Usage: Languish (vi), Luxuriate (vi)

Once again, from Paul Brians’ book Common Errors in English Usage (to which he allows free access at his Washington State University web page), here is a worksheet on use of the verbs languish and luxuriate. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of six sentences and ten modified cloze exercises.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Cultural Literacy: Calvinism

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Calvinism. This is half-page worksheet with a reading of four simple sentences and four comprehension questions. A basic, symmetrical introduction to Calvin’s ideology, which the reading observes is today found primarily in Presbyterianism.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

The Weekly Text, 30 June 2023: Free to Be You and Me

It seems to me that there are a lot of politicians in the United States, most if not all of them Republicans, who are belligerently opposed (I’m thinking of you, Ron DeSantis, above all others here) to the changing concepts of gender in our culture. Earlier in my life, these same troglodytes (is it fair to call them troglodytes? It seems to be a guy like DeSantis makes the average troglodyte look like Bertrand Russell) were exercised by Free to Be You and MeJames Dobson, noted evangelist and right-wing scold, took particular offense and the changing gender roles in our society that this television show discussed–what a surprise!

This week’s Text is this short reading on Free To Be You and Me along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Nota bene, please, that the original sound recording for this television broadcast is available on the streaming music service I subscribe to, so I’ll bet it’s on yours as well.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Cultural Literacy: Prime Number

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the concept of a prime number. This is a half-page worksheet with a one-sentence reading, which is actually two clauses separated by a semicolon, and two comprehension questions. The reading might require some simplification and editing if you are dealing with English language learners or emergent readers. That won’t be a problem as this document, like most of what you’ll find here at Mark’s Text Terminal, is formatted in Microsoft Word for the express purpose of flexibility in the teacher’s hand.

In any event, however, this is an elegantly simple worksheet on a relatively simple concept in mathematics.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Consent

Here is a worksheet on the verb consent as followed by an infinitive. I consent to distribute these curricular materials in spite of their manifestly dubious value.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

The Weekly Text, Friday 23 June 2023: History of Hip-Hop Lesson 16, Concluding Assessment and Reflection

Alright, here, finally, is the sixteenth and final lesson plan of the History of Hip-Hop Unit. I use this Cultural Literacy worksheet on racism as a do-now exercise. The work of this lesson, which I have allowed to play out over two or three days, is this concluding assessment and reflection and this metacognitive assessment worksheet.

And that, gentle reader, is that. There are now sixteen lessons available on the History of Hip-Hop at Mark’s Text Terminal.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Cultural Literacy: Emancipation Proclamation

For Juneteenth 2023, here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Emancipation Proclamation. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of four sentences, each of them longish compounds, and four comprehension questions. Like so many of these Cultural Literacy squibs, this one’s brevity does not attenuate its thoroughness. Indeed, it notes, with historical accuracy, that “In itself, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free any slaves, because it applied only to rebellious areas that the federal government did not then control.” That is an important fact to keep in mind when analyzing this document. Put another way, the Emancipation Proclamation was in some measure a symbolic gesture.

By 19 July 1865, now known as Juneteenth, however, the Confederacy was vanquished and the Emancipation Proclamation carried the force of law.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Concepts in Sociology: Acculturation

Last September, about four days before the beginning of the school year, I learned that I was tasked with teaching a sociology elective in my school. There was, of course, no curriculum. It happens that I know something about the domain, but not enough to teach it effectively.

So, I went write to work reading, taking notes, accumulating text, and trying to synthesize it all into something that had relatively expansive scope and logical sequence. As usual, other responsibilities intervened, and I often found myself without a proper lesson to teach. Which brings us to this worksheet on acculturation. I prepared this, and sixty-nine others like it, on the fly when I needed something in a hurry.

So, if you see the “Concepts in Sociology” header on a blog post, it will be one of these documents. I’d be interested, as below and always, if you use these materials in your classroom and how. Most of them are relatively short, and might be appropriate for do-now exercises at the beginning of a class period. Many of them might be usefully integrated into social studies or English language arts lessons, depending on the texts and approach you’re using in those domains.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Cultural Literacy: William Blake

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on William Blake. When I began teaching in New York City in 2003, his poem “The Chimney Sweeper” was included on at least a couple of New York State’s high-stakes Regents’ Tests–so I imagine I prepared this document to introduce students–and with a four-sentence reading with three comprehension questions, I think this worksheet serves its purpose–to Blake.

In my high school year, after being directed toward William Blake by Allen Ginsberg and The Fugs (and yes, I stipulate I went to high school in a very different time than today), I started reading him and have never stopped.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Common English Verbs Followed by an Infinitive: Choose

Here is a worksheet on the verb choose as followed by an infinitive. I’ll not choose to write any more subpar curricular material.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.